If you’re like me, you may have found that sometimes your prayers are answered and other times they aren’t. Particularly if you pray for money.

So what’s the secret to a successful prayer?

Bear Heart taught me a prayer for money many years ago. It works. But you have to be clear that it’s what you want.

Here’s how the teaching came about: While I was working on The Wind Is My Mother with Bear Heart, I had a full time job in a law firm.

It was a good job, and I liked it, but it didn’t make my heart sing. Working on The Wind Is My Mother is what made my heart sing.

Being highly observant and more than a little bit psychic, Bear Heart knew I loved the writing process much more than my law firm job. So he taught me how to pray to be able to make my living as a writer.

The prayer isn’t so much how to pray for money as how to pray to make your living doing what you love.

How does one start a good habit? Particularly the habit of having a perfect day?

I admit that a checklist for anything, particularly a perfect day, might sound too unspontaneous to be a spiritual undertaking.

But to accomplish anything, we have to be intentional, and really work at it. And work takes time without interruptions, which means being organized. And checklists help with that!

This is my checklist for a perfect day [work day; days off are not so scheduled]. I am a person who finds routine productive and comforting. If you are, too, you may find this checklist helpful. By doing them in order, it guarantees they get done.

Change it to accommodate your lifestyle.

A tip:

If you have a commute to work, put commute time on your schedule. And I highly recommend doing something peaceful or productive during that commute. Listen to a motivating CD, do breathing exercises, or, if you’re a passenger, meditate. Commute time doesn’t have to be wasted time.